The story is still being written about the now-infamous midnight trade of Luka Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis. To say the NBA world was shocked would be an understatement, and the ripple effects and magnitude of this mind-numbing trade are still being felt and will be for a very long time.
The Mavericks have basically gone into a free-fall since the deal. They faced immediate and obviously warranted backlash, and things only got worse as they faced injuries, fell to the 10 seed in the West, and dealt with a rebellion from the entire fanbase.
Meanwhile, the Lakers have flourished with their new superstar, going on a big run, clinching the three-seed in the West, and emerging as a title contender - not just this year, but for seasons to come. By now, we’ve heard all about how this deal was done in secret between Nico Harrison and Rob Pelinka, and how the Mavs only reached out to one team (which is insane, by the way).
It’s purely hypothetical, but it’s fun to think about what would have happened if the Mavs had actually handled this like a logical team and made Doncic available to the highest bidder. Surely, all 29 other teams would have at least made a fun call, and Dallas certainly would have ended up with a better return.
To complete the exercise and save fans the trouble, Bobby Marks of ESPN put together a list of hypothetical deadline trades that could have been offered by every team in the league for Luka. The deals basically tried to get as close to “fair” market value as possible within the salary cap rules.
Nuggets deal MPJ, Braun, Saric & ‘31 1st for Luka in fake trade
Marks had the Nuggets in a category with other “Apron Teams”, but since Denver was only in the first apron, they were allowed to aggregate salaries. However, the Nuggets had already extended Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, so neither one was eligible to be traded during the season. I think we can safely assume that Nikola Jokic was not going to be dealt either.
So, that leaves the Nuggets with no choice but to use Michael Porter Jr. to make the salaries work. This was fairly obvious at the time, and we talked at length about how MPJ was the only real movable contract on the roster. If there was any star trade to be made, Porter Jr. would have been headed out of Denver.
To make the money work, Denver would have had to add in Dario Saric (more like Dallas would have had to accept Saric), and to sweeten the pot, they could have added their only young asset in Christian Braun and their only tradeable draft pick, their 2031 first (unprotected). So, in full, Marks’ deal was MPJ, Saric, Braun, and the ‘31 first for Doncic.
Truthfully, this would have been a dreadful deal for Dallas, possibly even worse than the one they ultimately made. But in a world where they did what they did, it’s not crazy to think it could have happened. And just imagine a Nuggets team with Jamal Murray and Luka Doncic in the backcourt, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic in the frontcourt… Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. But it’s still fun to dream.